Ryan's Eagles entertaining, but fell short of expectations

Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham talks with head coach Buddy Ryan during a training session on Aug. 5, 1989, at London’s Wembley Stadium where the Birds took on the Cleveland Browns for the 1989 American Bowl. A year earlier, Cunningham became the first black quarterback to be elected a starter for the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.(AP Photo/Gillian Allen)

Eagles player William Frizzell, left, celebrates his first-quarter touchdown after intercepting a pass from the Redskins, with teammates Eric Allen, center, and Reggie White, right, in a Nov. 12, 1990, game at Veterans Stadium. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)

From 1985-94, Eagles football was at times a circus, and other times was entertaining, outrageous and full of surprises.

Unfortunately for Eagles fans, while head coaches Buddy Ryan and Rich Kotite were either making us laugh or causing us to scratch our heads, the other teams in the NFC East were winning Super Bowls. In the 10 Super Bowls in this period, the NFC East was well represented, with the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants going 6-­0 in Super Bowls they played in.

Then came the Eagles.

One of the first acts of new owner Norman Braman after he bought the team in 1985 was to release interim coach Fred Bruney and hire Buddy Ryan.

He had a well-­earned reputation for being brash and confrontational. Those traits endeared him to his players and fans, but often got him trouble with superiors, from his head coaches to the owner.

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Ryan’s body of work leading up to his hiring by the Birds was impressive. His first gig was with the New York Jets of the AFL in 1968 as a defensive line coach. Ryan and coordinator Walt Michaels’ defensive game plan was instrumental in holding the NFL’s Baltimore Colts to seven points in Super Bowl III, earning Ryan his first Super Bowl ring.

Ryan started to create his own original blitz packages while under Jets head coach Weeb Ewbank. Ryan gave his packages nicknames like the “59 blitz,” the “Taco Bell blitz” and the “Cheeseburger blitz.”

Ryan believed the quarterback was the focal point of any offense, as with the Jets and Joe Namath, and his defense must attack the offense’s strength and centerpiece to be successful.

In the mid 1970s Ryan got the job as defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings, where again he had an impact on the Vikings’ success on defense. He had a lot to do with creating the “Purple People Eaters” in Minnesota. This unit helped the Vikings to postseason appearances from 1973-78, including three appearances in the Super Bowl.

Ryan’s biggest success came as defensive coordinator with the Bears, where Ryan created his signature “46” defense. He was hired there in 1978 to run the defense but was passed over for the head coaching job in 1982 when Mike Ditka was hired.

The two argued on a regular basis, often in front their players, but found a way to coexist until 1985, when the Bears, led by Mike Singletary and Walter Payton, won Super Bowl XIX, crushing the New England Patriots, 46­-10.

Ryan may have been the only coordinator in NFL history to be carried off the field on his players’ shoulders after a Super Bowl win.

He also won over many success-starved Eagles fans at his first press conference as head coach declaring, “Y’all got a winner in town. We plan on winning the Eastern Division.”

But five years later he would be shown the door after failing to produce a single playoff win. It can be argued that Ryan was the most overrated and at the same time the most beloved coach in Eagles history. When he was hired, he immediately started building what he knew best: his defense.

Ryan cultivated players like safety Andre Waters, who was signed as a free agent in 1984, and drafted Pro Bowlers Seth Joyner, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown and Eric Allen. Ryan also had future Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White to lead his defense.

On offense, Ryan had quarterback Randall Cunningham to work with and targets such as Cris Carter, Fred Barnett and Pro Bowl tight end Keith Jackson for Cunningham to throw to.

He also drafted running back Keith Byars out of Ohio State in the first round to run the ball. But Ryan’s record in 1986 was 5-­10­-1, far from a “winner’s” record.

In 1987 the Birds were 7-­8 in a strike season and three of the games — all losses — came with substitute or “scab” players performing in place of the striking players. In 1988 Ryan finally kept his promise and won the NFC East with a 10-­6 record. He never put his focus on offense and it showed in the Eagles’ 20­12 playoff loss to the Bears in the infamous “Fog Bowl.”

In 1989 the Birds finished 11-­5, one game behind the Giants, but they did get into the playoffs as a wild card. Again the offense faltered as the Eagles lost, 21-7, to the Rams. In 1990, Braman, sick of the Eagles’ offensive shortcomings in the playoffs, hired Rich Kotite as offensive coordinator. Kotite had the same job with the Jets from 1985-­89.

The Birds made the playoffs as a wild card team at 10­-6, but their anemic offense let them down in a 20-6 loss to the Redskins.

Why did Eagles fans like Ryan so much? For one thing, he went 8­-2 against the Cowboys, the Eagles’ biggest rival. One of those losses came during the three-­game strike in ‘87. The Eagles’ regular players stayed out on strike while many of the Cowboys crossed the picket line and played, running up the score on the Eagles’ amateurs, 41­-22.

Ryan made his impression with Eagles fans later in the season when he returned the favor against Cowboys coach Tom Landry by scoring a touchdown in the final seconds, when the outcome was no longer in doubt. This was apparently Ryan’s revenge against running up the score against the Eagles’ replacement players.

On Nov. 22, 1989, Ryan found himself at the center of yet another scandal, when Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson alleged Ryan had taken out a “bounty” on two Cowboys, placekicker Luis Zendejas and quarterback Troy Aikman. The Thanksgiving Day game at Texas Stadium was remembered as the “Bounty Bowl.”

There was also Bounty Bowl II later in ‘89, the “Pork Chop” Bowl in 1990 and the “Body Bag” game on Monday Night Football, also in 1990.

It was all a lot of fun, but Ryan never seriously contended for a Super Bowl and Braman let him go after the 1990 season and replaced him with Kotite, who couldn’t have had a more different personality from his predecessor.

In 1991, mostly with Ryan’s players, the Eagles defense finished the season ranked first in the NFL in fewest passing yards, rushing yards, and total yards allowed in what is regarded as one of the best seasons ever constructed by an NFL defense.

But the Birds, hoping this was finally their year, caught a bad break when Cunningham was lost for the season with a knee injury in the season opener against Green Bay. Kotite used four other quarterbacks during the remainder of the season, including a washed-up Jim McMahon. With that defense, it still produced a 10-­6 record but did not qualify for the playoffs.

Tragedy struck on June 25, 1992, when defensive tackle Jerome Brown lost control of his Corvette at a high speed, crashing into an electric pole, killing Brown and his nephew Gus.

The team rallied and finished 11­-5, earning a wild-card spot, then beat the New Orleans Saints, 36­-20. The following week the Birds were blown out by the Cowboys, 34­-10.

The 1993 season started off with promise even after losing White to free agency in the offseason, as Braman would not offer his superstar QB a contract. White ended up in Green Bay, where he helped the Packers win Super Bowl XXXI.

The Birds jumped out to a 4­-0 record, but the season crashed and burned when the team lost two of its best players on offense. Cunningham and Barnett suffered season­-ending ACL injuries in a 35-30 win against the Jets on Oct. 3. The Eagles suffered a meltdown and finished 8­-8.

On May 6, 1994, Jeffrey Lurie bought the Eagles from Braman for $195 million. He gave Kotite a survivor’s shot and the holdover head coach led the Eagles to a 7­-2 mark, only to see them quit on him, losing the last seven games of the season to finish 7-­9.

The Eagles had only one key injury that season, to linebacker Byron Evans, who broke his leg in week 10 against Cleveland.

The collapse came to a resounding thud Christmas Eve at Cincinnati, when the 2-13 Bengals scored six points in the final seconds to steal the win.

The high point of the season occurred at Candlestick Park on Oct. 2, when rookie Charlie Garner and the Eagles crushed the eventual Super Bowl champion 49ers, 40-8.

Lurie fired Kotite immediately after the season and replaced him with 49ers defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes.